Rhododendron.'] EricaccCB. 63 



spurs very sharp, reflexed; ov. pubescent; capsule small, 

 pubescent, completely enclosed in fleshy ovoid enlarged cal. 

 which is \-\ in. long, smooth, shining, deep purple-blue. 



Var. /3, hirsuta, Gardft. ift Fl. B. Ind. l. c. C. P. 1790. 



Stems covered with coarse bristly hair; 1. smaller, more 

 coriaceous, often bristly-hairy beneath. 



Upper montane zone ; rather common. Moon's locality is Uva. 

 Var. /3, Pedurutalagala ; Knuckles; Wattakelle. Y\. April, May, &c.; 

 white. 



Also in the mountains of N. and S. India, Burma, and Malaya. 



The fl. in the Ceylon plant are nearly scentless ; the leaves have a 

 faintly aromatic scent when bruised, whence the native name, and they 

 afford an essential oil. 



2. RKODODENDIION, Z. 



Tree, 1. alt, crowded, entire, fl. large, in terminal capitulate 

 racemes; cal. free, small, flat, persistent, segm. 5; cor. large 

 infundibular-campanulate, lobes 5, spreading; stam, 10 (rarely 

 less), hypogynous, distinct, anth.-cells opening by terminal 

 pores ; ov. superior, usually lo-celled, with many ovules in 

 each cell, style simple, stigma capitate, lobed ; fruit a woody 

 capsule, dehiscent septifragally from above into 5 valves 

 leaving the placental column; seeds very numerous, minute, 

 winged at both ends. — Sp. 1 30 ; 44 in Fl. B. Ltd. 



Of about 38 species in the Himalaya, only this one extends into the 

 hills of S. India and Ceylon. 



R. arboreum, Sm. Exotic Bat. t. 6 (1804). Ma-ratmal, S. 



Moon Cat. 35. Thw. Enum. 170. R. ttobile, Wall. Cat. n. 1521 B. 

 C. P. 149. 



Fl. 15. Ind. iii. 466 (var. nilagiriciim). Wight, Ic. t. 1201, and 111. t. 

 140. Bedd. Fl. Sylv. t. 228. Zenk. PI. Ind. t. 15 {R. nilagiricd). 



A small or moderate-sized tree, with a stout usually 

 twisted trunk and numerous thick branches, bark dark grey, 

 deeply furrowed, twigs very stout, glabrous or nearly so, 

 marked with large scars of fallen 1. and bracts; 1. 3-5 in., 

 crowded at end of year's growth but below the fl., oblong- 

 oval or oblong-lanceolate, tapering or slightly rounded at 

 base, acute at apex, margin often recurved, glabrous above, 

 more or less densely covered beneath with a thin hard felt of 

 white or ferrugineous hair, thick and very stiff, veins impressed 

 above, prominent beneath, petiole \-\ in., thick, glabrous ; fl. 

 very large, on short pubescent ped., closely placed in a short 

 terminal capitulate raceme, each with a very large rotundate 



